The filmmaker's work has been featured in 27 Shark Week specials – this year alone he took part in Air Jaws: Fin of Fury, Lair of the Mega Shark, Zombie Sharks and last but not least, Great White Matrix, which airs Aug. 16.

With all of this experience under his camera strap, we choose to believe him when he tells EW.com that sharks do smile for his camera.

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As an Australian Navy diver, Paul de Gelder is used to stressful situations, but five-and-a-half years ago, he faced one of his few fears right in the jaws. De Gelder was participating in a work exercise in the waters near Sydney Harbor when he was attacked by a shark. The diver miraculously survived the terrifying encounter, but the injuries from the attack cost him his right hand and leg.

Sunday was the beginning of Shark Week on the Discovery Channel, an annual celebration of the awesome might of these elegant creatures of the sea.

But while Shark Week focuses largely on real sharks (well, real-ish) we wanted to commemorate the sharks that we enjoy the other 51 weeks of the year – the friendly and fearsome sharks that fill up our popular culture. Which pop-culture shark is best? And, just as crucially, which pop-culture shark is worst?

We'd write more, but like a shark, this post needs to constantly move forward or else it dies. Onto the list, below!

Viewers were left guessing if the blindsided bridal stylist would choose between poetic mortgage broker Chris Siegfried and intensely romantic marketing analyst Drew Kenney – or leave them both behind to mend her broken heart.